Another happy ending with Pet 24.....

Poppy was rehomed from Dogs Trust Darlington in March this year. Four weeks ago she escaped from the back garden and her owners, the Dodd family, were beside themselves with worry. Luckily she was wearing her Dogs Trust Pet 24 tag on her collar. Within an hour Pet 24 had called the family to say that Poppy had been found on a nearby street, and 20 minutes later she was back where she belonged. See how happy the boys are to have her safely home again! 'Mrs Poppy' (Mum!) said: 'Thank goodness for Pet 24-it's a great service'. 

Buddy Bosco 'Our Hero!'

This is such an unusual story about one of our Pet 24 members, Buddy, that we thought we just had to publish! His owners kindly adopted him from the Dogs Trust Centre in Kenilworth. Buddy's had many issues to deal with, probably from being mistreated in the past, but now thankfully he is with a loving family who are giving him a caring home-and he's earning his keep.... what a smart dog!

Buddy Bosco aged three, was homed with us on September 12th, 2013 and to bed him

in and get him into a routine in we walked him a lot. Unfortunately we found this

made him so tired he became very snappy and was falling asleep from a sitting

position. We were advised to ease back a little and we did so.

Buddy had many other problems, doorbells, church bells, ice cream vans, emergency

vehicles and running horses amongst many others. This was just from the television

and he was much more nervous outside on walks. As time passed he did improve but

not significantly. We did notice that he enjoyed jumping up into our camper so we

thought that a holiday trip to France would help us all bond together.

In August 2014,after obtaining his passport, we set off for a trip to France via Eurotunnel.

Buddy took it all in his stride and really enjoy his walks at the camp sites and

seaside towns that we visited. Sadly the weather was not kind to us and we decided

to return home earlier than scheduled.

This involved a trip to the Pet Passport Centre at Euro-tunnel. on a windy stormy day.

Due to the 24 hour waiting period after the visit to the French veterinarian we had

to occupy ourselves for 2 hours. The inclement weather forced us to sit tight in the

car park and a bit of buffeting, we thought from the wind, told us that it was better

to be here than on the open road.

After one and a half hours the weather broke, the sun came out and encouraged my

wife Jeannie to take Buddy for a short walk. I remained in the camper mentally

adding up the cost of taking Buddy abroad.

Upon his return Buddy would not approach the camper and kept gruffing like a grumpy old man! I got down from the

camper and remarked that his behaviour was not normal for him. Jeannie replied that he was agitated at something under the camper. Looking underneath I was taken aback to see two big white, wide open eyes of a young

man hanging to the underside of the camper.

An agitated barking Buddy, me banging on the side of the vehicle and an extremely agitated Jeannie quickly persuaded the

unwelcome hitch hiker to clamber from under the camper and walk away. In relief, a swift recalculation told me that Buddy had more than paid his dues.

Buddy? He quickly realised his hero status and milked it for all it was worth.

Since his return he has made steady progress but has some way to go! Buddy is an

intelligent, loving dog who still has a few hang ups after one year with us but he is

loving life. Our little hero!

Dogs Trust Kenilworth, Warwickshire

Did you know about Vet 24 emergency vet fee cover? FREE with Pet 24 membership!

Here's a fab pic of Scoob and Sam. Sam did 'a runner' ....he was thankfully found safe and unhurt, then taken to a local vet's practise where the call was made to our 24/7 Pet 24 team in Cambridge-they then notified a very relieved owner, who picked Sam up shortly after the call. 

It's so important that missing dogs are reunited with their owners as quickly as possible, in order to minimise the stress they will feel-not to mention that of the owner. One of our fantastic partners, Dogs Trust, knows only too well the importance of keeping their rescue dogs' stress levels at a minimum where possible, which is why all dogs they re-home leave their centres wearing a LIVE lost-and-found yellow Dogs Trust tag, which is serviced by Pet 24.

Thankfully, on this occasion Sam was found uninjured. 

Did you know that as part of the Pet 24 membership (£15 a year or £40 for 5 years) your dog will also be covered by Vet 24? 

Vet 24 gives emergency vet fee cover of up to £750 should your dog be found injured.

It's fantastic value for money, bringing great peace of mind to our dog owners and is one of the main reasons that people stay with Pet 24 year after year, including of course the knowledge that their dog's tag ensures a quick reunion with their owner, should their beloved dog go missing- just a phone call away!

Our customers also love the extra information that they can give Pet 24, including other family members' or neighbours' phone numbers and information about their holidays, when many dogs go missing.

Many thanks for the great picture Jackie...and the whole team wish both doggies a long and happy life.

Pet 24 and Agria Insurance provide a speedy return for the intrepid Archie!

Pet 24 works in partnership with many different types of organisations. As well as working with established animal charities such as Dogs Trust and Wood Green Animal Shelter, we also work with Agria Insurance who offer our service to their many customers. We couldn't resist telling you about this particular little chap 'Archie' as he's so adorable and we believe should be starring in a Walt Disney film! Here's his lost and found story as brilliantly written to us by one of his relieved owners:

Archie, our 6 month old border is happy to go along with my husband when he is out and about working. In fact he has built up a team of admirers who take turns in supervising him as well as supplying a steady stream of treats! 

Unfortunately a minor lapse in supervision resulted in our adventurous young pup making a bid for freedom and he escaped through a partially open gate. Our intrepid explorer made his way across a car park and behind the back of the local shopping centre. 

Following his instincts and no doubt his nose, Archie found his way to the local butcher's shop. The butcher's boy was interrupted from his sausage-making duties to find two doleful eyes looking up at him. Fortunately he resisted the begging looks and phoned the Pet 24 number immediately. Much to my husband's relief, Archie was returned within 20 minutes and the search party called off. 

The 'Cooler King's great escape was at an end with a happy conclusion all round. Really glad we had taken up the option of having Archie tagged. 

  

Another quick reunite for opportunist Scrappy!

Many thanks to Peter Grace for writing about Scrappy's straying adventure!

We acquired Scrappy from Dog’s Trust at Kenilworth.  He is a King Charles Spaniel/Jack Russell cross which has given him a very inquisitive nature and boundless energy.  He is a friendly little character and has recently returned from his second visit to France where he seemed equally at home. 

A few weeks ago while my wife Mary, who is disabled, was home alone when a neighbour called to see her.  When Mary opened the door to speak to her, Scrappy seized the moment and off he went on an unscheduled adventure.  Because of Mary’s restricted mobility she was unable to give chase and Scrappy disappeared around the corner of our cul de sac to inspect neighbouring gardens and properties.  

Fortunately Dog’s Trust had put us in touch with Pet 24 and the runaway was wearing his tag with its vital information.  He was gone for a considerable time and then our home phone rang to pass on the news that someone had found Scrappy and had rung the number on his collar tag of Pet 24.  This meant that with the aid of our son, Scrappy was collected from his final destination and returned safely home.  

Thankfully he had not gone far and had been quite happy to accept the hospitality of his rescuers.  When I arrived home I delivered a small token of our gratitude, taking Scrappy on his lead to apologise.  His rescuers were quite amused, telling me that he didn’t put up any sort of struggle but made himself comfortable on their settee!  

Peter Grace

Buster the Boss! Episode 3 Deafness in Dogs

Hi canine buddies-as part of my litany of 'genolds' ailments (getting old) I hope to be of help to those of you suffering from hearing loss,and particularly your lovely owners-as there are some effective ideas that can really make a difference to us in our new deaf state.

1. Communication through hand-signals.
My family soon picked up that I'm unable to respond in the same way as I used to, and often don't seem to know what's going on around me. This is made much more bearable when they use hand signals which I can work out just as well as looking at their facial expressions. My key hand-signal 'words' are:  stay, come, dinner, good boy, play, sit and my favourite..treat! Before we used these I was really getting quite depressed as I just felt cut off from the world and particularly my family. Now life feels almost back to normal.

2. Safety.
Sadly I can no longer hear my owners calling me across the park (which I felt very liberating at the start and just ran around for ages, until I realised I was getting lost!). Now I'm on an expanding lead all the time unless we go to a secure woodland park where I can't find even the smallest rabbit hole in the fence to escape! I can't hear the traffic any longer either so my owners have to be more mindful of walking me on the inside of the pavement so that I don't get scared by the sudden appearance of a huge truck etc..

3. Dog whistle
If you can get hold of a 'storm' whistle- these can usually be heard by even the most deaf dogs! My owners have used one for a while and I can just about hear it-well enough to follow on when called, tho I must admit to 'not hearing' it sometimes!!

4.Indoor management.
Particularly other dogs! My sister will growl at me if I'm too close to her bowl or treat and as I can't hear her, my Mum has to intervene to save me getting a nasty nip! Sometimes she just makes me aware that sis has her top lip curled up-I can see THAT ok!
Also, due to being deaf we often get in the way of people walking around as we can't tell they're behind us, so PLEASE show extra patience-we don't WANT to be in your way!

I'm sure there are many other tips out there-these are just some of the top-listed ones and I hope this short list is effective for you and hasn't bored your owners too much! I think the biggest improvement for me has been the hand signals that my whole family now use with me-as it really makes me feel included again.
Phew! I'm exhausted after all that writing!

Good luck doggie friends!

Small dogs stolen for dogfight bait

Although there has been a lot of media noise around this subject, we are still seeing small dogs left alone, tied up outside shops or in one case this morning, outside a library. 

Hard as it is to write about and more so, to include pictures of the terrible results of dogs used for bait, the whole Pet 24 team feel that such an awful activity warrants its own blog...even if it saves just one dog's pain or even its life.

There is currently another surge in dogs being stolen for bait, mainly because the morons that steal small dogs for bait are paid increasingly well. The latest scam is for small dogs to be followed home, then the owner's house marked on the pavement as a house to be watched for a future opportunity to steal the dog that lives there.

We have also heard of dogs that have been enticed across a park by strong smelling food, then quickly picked up by the thieves, leaving the owner scouring the park to no avail. 

Other small dogs have been snatched from cars that have been left unlocked, and some even from the owner's garden.

We all really have to be on the alert for anyone looking suspicious, either hanging around in parks, or near our homes. Luckily dog owners are usually very friendly to each other, so word should be getting around. Sadly however, it's clear that many owners are still in ignorance of this awful activity.

Although many of these poor dogs don't survive being used as bait, some are found alive and in a terrible state. 

Forgive us for including the following picture- these are shocking but NOTHING like some of the truly disturbing and upsetting images available. We feel it's necessary to include some images while it's clear that some dog owners either don't know about this growing activity or are maybe just being too complacent, imagining it would never happen to their dog. 

PLEASE talk to all dog owners you meet about this shocking activity.